This invention relates to devices and systems for chromatography and, more specifically, to devices and systems that use an integrated microfluidic chip for sample preparation, separation and detection of analytes in real time.
There are three general types of chromatography systems, gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC) and supercritical fluid (SFC). Chromatography is an analytical technique for the separation and determination of organic and inorganic solutes in any samples especially biological, pharmaceutical, food, environmental, industrial, etc. In a liquid chromatographic process, for example, a liquid permeates through a porous solid stationary phase and elutes the solutes into a flow-through detector. The stationary phase is usually in the form of small-diameter (5-10 mm) uniform particles, packed into a cylindrical column. The typical column is constructed from a rigid material (such as stainless steel or plastic) and is generally 5-30 cm long and the internal diameter is in the range of 1-9 mm.
With the advent of micromaching techniques and other processes for fabricating microscale and sub-microscale devices, it has become possible to create integrated chromatography systems and devices.